Wildlife
From oversized crustaceans to octopi named after a Disney character, the alien-like life in Canada’s deep sea is full of incredible, colourful creatures
With vast expanses of icy waters, extreme depths and the absence of natural light, Canada’s deep-sea ecosystems host a diverse array of creatures that have evolved and adapted to survive in some of the Earth’s most extreme environments. From the icy depths of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to the remote waters of the Arctic, these mysterious sea creatures represent the resilience of life, capable of surviving some of our planet’s harshest conditions.
Despite the ocean covering around 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface, only about five per cent of it has actually been explored (that’s less than what humans have mapped of the moon). For centuries, the deep sea was inaccessible to humans. It wasn’t until the 19th century that systematic scientific expeditions began to make their way closer to the ocean’s bottom. Now, thanks to new technologies such as underwater remote operated vehicle (ROV) cameras, marine scientists have learned more about the mysterious creatures living under the sea.
Species such as the bioluminescent lanternfish, the mysterious giant squid and resilient deep-sea corals provide a glimpse into the diversity of life persisting in Canada’s deep oceans. But around the world, humans have become fascinated with these alien-like creatures. This includes the rare deep-sea angler fish seen for the first time off the coast of Tenerife this past February in broad daylight, which took over the internet with wonder and awe.
Here is a closer look at some of Canada’s most fascinating deep-sea creatures.
Despite being called the “glass sponge,” this species is not made of glass. However, it does survive without a mouth, eyes, nose or stomach…With skeletons composed of silica (a material used to make glass), this living, breathing creature is one of the Earth’s most fascinating species.
Initially, scientists believed glass sponge reefs went extinct about 40 million years ago. That was until Canadian scientists discovered live reefs in 1987 that were more than 9,000 years old along the north coast of B.C. While glass sponges are typically found deep in the ocean (3,000 metres), the reefs found along North America are in shallow water (about 300 metres). While individual glass sponges have been found worldwide, reefs are extremely rare.
The glass sponge plays an important role in ecosystems, providing shelter to more than 120 aquatic species while filtering water and removing bacteria, which they feed on.
The glass sponge is slow-growing, meaning it takes centuries for a reef to grow. “If they get damaged by fishing gear or drilling or mining, those reefs are effectively gone,” says Isabelle Jubinville, a marine scientist working with Oceana Canada. “It would take them many, many years to come close to recovering.”
Just off the North Coast of B.C., a 2,410-square-kilometre marine protected area (MPA) was established in 2017 by the Canadian Government to conserve glass sponge reefs. The location, the Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound, is home to four functioning ecosystems of glass sponges, so the goal of the MPA is to conserve the species’ biological diversity and structural habitat.
Living in the ocean’s twilight zone, the bloody-belly comb jelly is a captivating deep-sea creature found at depths ranging from 250 to 1,500 meters. This mysterious species can be found off Canada’s Pacific Coast, but its lifespan is unknown.
“If you are going down in a submersible, often you’ll see tons of comb jellies,” says Susanna Fuller, a marine biologist and vice president of conservation and projects for Oceans North. “(The comb jellies) are usually bright white, not red. This one, I think, is very unique.”
The bloody-belly comb jelly is the only genus in the Lampoctenidae family. The bright red helps the comb jelly blend in with the darkness of the deep sea.
“Red colour actually attenuates in the water once you get to 10 metres or so,” says Jubinville. “Things that are red appear black. So, the purpose of the red glow is so they can eat things that are also bioluminescent.”
The red glow of the bloody-belly comb jelly blocks the light emitted by their prey, reducing the possibility of becoming prey.
Comb jellies look somewhat like jellyfish, but they differ in one distinct way — they lack a stinger. The two creatures also move around differently. Comb jellies are covered in eight rows of cilia (hair-like structures that comb jellies use for swimming and eating. The comb jelly is the largest cilia-covered creature, even though it can only grow up to six inches.
Renowned for its longevity, the Greenland shark is one of the longest-living vertebrates on Earth, with some individuals being hundreds of years old. Growing to an average of three to five metres, this elusive species is primarily a deep-water dweller that is slow-moving and blind. Because of this, they will eat whatever they can catch. Most of their prey, such as squid and seals, will be eaten while they are asleep.
“They are the oldest estimated species of fish; one was estimated to be 400 to 500 years old,” says Jubinville. “They might take up to 100 years before they are sexually mature. They are very mysterious, and we don’t know a lot about them. What we do know is that they are old, big, slow dinosaurs.”
Typically, Greenland sharks live primarily in cold, deep water but sometimes come close to the surface and have been spotted in the Arctic, North Atlantic waters and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In some cases, these sharks have been caught in fishing nets, often by accident. However, in Iceland, the meat of Greenland sharks is consumed after it has been fermented and dried. This delicacy, called hákral, is a staple of traditional Icelandic cuisine.
The meat of a Greenland shark is toxic, which leads back to an Inuit legend. The legend says the first Greenland shark was born from a cloth covered in urine, which is why their meat has such a high urea content. However, the fermentation process of hákral ensures it is safe for consumption.
Have you ever seen a pill bug? Giant isopods look just like them, except 16 times bigger.
The giant isopod is an example of deep-sea gigantism. This tends to happen with species that don’t have a backbone. The cause is still somewhat unknown, but there are several hypotheses.
“One of these hypotheses is that larger animals are more efficient because they have a smaller ratio of surface area to body volume — large animals lose less energy and heat to their surrounding environment,” says Jubinville. “Bigger animals can also eat bigger prey with higher energy content. Since the deep sea is quite a barren and food-scarce environment, maximizing energy efficiency is a way to thrive.”
Jubinville says another theory is that since the deep sea is isolated. This means that few species live there while competition is minimal. Therefore, isopods can grow to larger sizes.
However, besides being huge, there isn’t much difference between the giant isopod and the pill bugs we see on land. Giant isopods scavenge the sea floor for their food and eat any remaining debris they can find.
As per its name, the giant phantom jellyfish is one of the largest jellyfish species (reaching up to nine metres in length) and quite mysterious, and it has only been seen 120 times since it was discovered in 1899.
“Unlike other jellyfish, which have little stringy tentacles, these guys have arms that they wrap around fish and use to pull fish into their chamber; they don’t have a mouth,” says Jubinville.
The tentacles of the giant phantom jellyfish are almost ribbon-like, more expansive than the typical jellyfish tentacle, and their bodies are translucent, giving them a ghostly appearance – hence the name “phantom.” The bell of the giant phantom jellyfish (the umbrella-shaped feature at the top of the species) can also have a reddish/purple hue, adding to its ghost-like appearance.
The tentacles of the giant phantom jellyfish don’t sting, but because their tentacles are so large, these stinging cells (cnidocytes) are not needed.
In the marine food web, giant phantom jellyfish act as a predator, feeding on small fish, plankton and other invertebrates. But this species is also prey to some larger marine species like deep-sea fish, sharks, and even some larger species of jellyfish, such as the lion’s mane jellyfish.
The Dumbo octopus is possibly one of the cutest deep sea creatures in existence, with its name taking after the Disney movie Dumbo, because of the species’ “big ears”.
Originally, the Dumbo octopus was discovered during the 1872 to 1876 Challenger expedition, which was the first major oceanographic expedition that explored the deep sea. However, it wasn’t until later that their genus, Grimpoteuthis, was described. Today, there are about 17 valid species of Dumbo octopus, but according to the Natural History Musuem there could be more.
Unlike other species of octopi that use their tentacles to drag themselves across the sea floor, the Dumbo octopus use their unlike fins (that look like ears) to swim and gracefully “fly” through the water.
“They’re the deepest living octopus that is known,” says Jubinville. “They’ve been sighted through submersibles in waters that are like 7,000 metres deep, so just absolutely abyssal waters.”
As a result of the deep sea being dark and cold, the Dumbo octopus has adapted differently than some other octopi. They don’t have an ink pouch, mainly because there isn’t a point in producing a dark cloud of ink when you live in a very dark environment.
One species of Dumbo octopus was found in the Gully Marine Protected Area off the Scotian Shelf in Atlantic Canada. Fuller says the Dumbo octopus have essentially become a symbol for the region.
“They basically became the poster child for the Gully Marine Protected Area and why it is important to protect places in the Scotian Shelf in particular,” says Fuller. “It’s one of those creatures you are able to find when you can do in-situ research with cameras. Having images of these species, which are sometimes caught completely opportunistically, is really important.”
“We go from not knowing about a species like the Dumbo octopus to it becoming the poster child for the deep sea, and for why there is still a sense of wonder.”
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